Jury Convicts Killers of Filipina Housekeeper

PHILIPPINE VILLAGE VOICE - Redefining Community News
Currents & Breaking News
Volume 4, Issue No. 15
/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /


. . . . . A community service of Philippine Village Voice (PhilVoiceNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . . . . .



The News UpFront: (TOP STORY) as of Friday, June 11, 2010
~ A Toronto jury Friday (June 11, 2010) convicted two immigrants from Ecuador of first-degree murder for the brutal slaying of Filipino housekeeper Jocelyn Dulnuan and sentenced them to life imprisonment. "It's a vindication of somebody who gave herself unselfishly," Philippine Consul-General Minerva Falcon said. The verdict brought relief to thousands of Filipinos in Toronto.




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Jury Convicts Killers of Filipina Housekeeper;
'It's a Vindication,' Says RP Consul General


By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

TORONTO - Two Ecuadorian immigrants, convicted earlier on Friday of first degree-murder, were each sentenced to life imprisonment for the brutal slaying of a Filipino housekeeper in October 2007.

The verdict brought a sense of relief to thousands of Filipinos in this city, many of whom work as nannies, caregivers and housekeepers like the victim herself, 27-year-old Jocelyn Dulnuan, a native of Ifugao province in northern Philippines.

"It's a vindication of somebody who gave herself unselfishly," Philippine Consul-General Minerva Falcon said when reached for comment by the Philippine Village Voice. "I always believe in Canada's justice system," she added.

The jury found Cristian Figueroa and Fabian Loayza-Penaloza guilty of killing Dulnuan, housekeeper in a huge mansion in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga. They both had denied the accusation, instead pointing to the other as the killer.

Crown attorney Steve Sherriff had earlier told the jury that Dulnuan was strangled to death with a copper wire after the two men had already done robbing the place. A safe containing half-a-million dollars had been taken by the two. The money was later split between them.

"Mabuti nga sa kanila (serves them right)," some Filipino caregivers said when asked for their reaction. "Dapat nga bitayin yan (they should be hanged)," they added. Canada has abolished the death penalty in 1976. Capital offences carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

(This Currents & Breaking News may be posted online, broadcast or reprinted, on condition that the author and the publication be properly credited. By Romeo P. Marquez, Editor, Philippine Village Voice, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Volume 4, Issue no.15, June 11, 2010).